Category — Computer Tools

For the past year I have been running Windows on my Mac using Apple’s Boot Camp in OS X Leopard. After a few months I decided to give Fusion a try since it lets you run a Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine. I felt like I was getting the best of both world - the convenience of booting into Windows from OS X whenever I needed it, or the ability to run Windows at full speed under Boot Camp when I needed it. Over time however I found myself booting using the virtual machine more often and almost never booting into Windows.

About two weeks ago I finally decided to convert my boot camp partition into a full virtual machine under Fusion. This actually had a few benefits, some of which I planned on, some I didn’t plan on. First is the hard drive space usage. When you use Boot Camp you need to choose how much space you would like to devote to Windows and how much to OS X. I overestimated how much space I would really need, and ended up wasting about 10 GB of space in the Boot Camp Partition, almost 10% of my laptop’s capacity, so not a small amount for sure.

That was the intended benefit. The unintended benefit of running windows in a pure virtual machine is the speed of loading under fusion. When you run fusion off a partition you need to boot up the system as well as fully shut down, just as if you were running the system normally. With a virtual machine however, Fusion will let you suspend an active session, allowing you to close out faster and get going faster too since you no longer have to wait for Windows to load. I have also noticed that Apple’s Spotlight search now includes Windows files and applications, and choosing one will automatically launch Fusion for you. Very cool.

Overall I am very happy that I made the switch over to VM Ware Fusion. Being able to boot into Windows while still using my OS X software like Omni Focus and Mail is great. The only real advantage I can see for Boot Camp is the price (free for Leopard users) and the potential speed gains if you need to use Windows for gaming or some other processor intensive programs.

The process for converting a boot camp partition is a little tricky, but not terribly difficult if you are ready for it. Of course back everything up if you can (another reason for using Fusion is a simplified backup of ALL of your data).

I highly recommend watching this video if you plan on making the switch: MurphyMac.com

You can also read the article at the same site (vmware converter)

I hope this helps anyone who is on the fence about trying VM Ware’s Fusion. I think it’s great, and it’s well worth checking out with a free trial.

Have you seen this icon and wondered what it was about?

This is the icon representing Really Simple Syndication (an RSS feed), which is basically an easy way to subscribe to to a website’s content. Most blogs, and many professional news sites such as the New York Times, provide this as a means to easily keep track of any news that has recently been posted. Using a feed reader, such as Google Reader, will allow you to keep track of multiple feeds at a time. So instead of visiting multiple websites a day to see if any new content has been created, you can simply open your feed reader which will fetch new articles for you, drastically reducing the amount of time required to find new useful information, and increasing the amount of time for you to actually read that content. And best of all it’s free!

To get started with RSS you will need a feed reader. My current favorite is Google Reader, which I have been using for about a month. The most convenient feature for me is the ability to log in to my Google account and see what is new. Before that I used Firefox’s live bookmark feature, which creates a bookmark of the feed. The biggest drawback to this system is the difficulty in tracking a large number of feeds.

Another option for subscribing to RSS feeds is to use a desktop-based feed reader. Mac users can check out Vienna or NetNewsWire. Windows users can look into FeedDemon or RSS Owl. The biggest drawback to a desktop based system is the inability to view your feeds when you are away from your home computer.

If you would like to try it out (and support my site by subscribing), go to the top right corner of this website and click on the RSS icon where is says “subscribe in reader.” The feed burner page should open up, asking you what program you would like to use to subscribe. You will see Google as an option, as well as a few other options. If you are using a desktop based solution you should be able to select it in the scroll down window.

A few more links for reading:

If you’re trying to weigh the pros and cons of a desktop vs web-based reader, Lifehacker has a great write-up comparing the two.

If you decide to go with Google Reader, Lifehacker also has a few tips to help you become more efficient. And if that’s not enough, there is a whole slew of posts with the Google Reader tag. And in case you didn’t notice, I like reading Lifehacker’s articles quite a bit.

One of the steps to gaining control of your finances is to get your financial documents in order, and one way to conveniently save them is using your computer. But what about easily keeping those documents organized every month, so they’re there when you need them?

Enter Apple’s iTunes. Most people don’t know that iTunes has the ability to catalog PDF documents the same way it does with music files. But now you know, so let’s get to it!

Getting Started

1. I advise creating a password protected folder to store all of your documents in, since most of the files will have sensitive information like social security numbers and credit card numbers. With Mac OS X you can do this with the Disk Utility program. Create a new disk image, ensure that there’s enough space for all of your future documents, and select AES-128 encryption (and make sure you remember the password!)

2. Next you will want to create a new iTunes library so last year’s tax returns don’t get mixed in with your Rage Against the Machine collection. On a Mac simply hold the Option key while you click on the iTunes logo (hold shift on a Windows Machine), and it will give the option to select or create a new library. Choose to create a new library in the disk image you just made.

3. At this point you should have a clean iTunes library, and you can begin to import any PDF documents you have stored on your computer that you want cataloged. After your documents are in you can begin to rename them and create customized folders using the playlist option. Once this is done you will have most, if not all, of your documents in one handy location.

With Mac OS X you can easily convert any document to a PDF by simply printing the document and selecting PDF in the lower left corner. I am not sure if Windows has a similar option (anyone care to comment or leave a suggestion?)

Tips for Organization

1. Make use of iTunes categories. I used the artist title to label whether the document belonged to my wife, a joint account, or myself. The genre category can be used to label a document as bank statements, credit card statements, tax documents, etc. You can also put in the year of the document.

2. Use Smart Playlists to further organize your documents. For instance you could create a playlist of the credit card genre to separate your credit card statements into a separate group. Or create an artist playlist to separate each person’s documents.

Other Considerations

Adding a scanner to the mix will allow you to convert virtually any paper document you have into a PDF document saved on your computer, greatly increasing the system’s effectiveness.

Bankrate.com has a guide on what documents to hang on to and for how long. I would also add your annual credit reports to that list, and would keep them for 10 years or longer. Keeping a copy of insurance documents like renters or homeowners insurance might be a good idea in case you need to quickly find them to file a claim.

You don’t have to limit yourself to financial documents. Any PDF format document that you want cataloged, like favorite articles or e-books, can be saved in this library.

There are a few downsides to using iTunes over other document organization solutions.
• iTunes only accepts PDF files, so no Word or Excel documents.
• While the financial documents library is open you won’t be able to listen to the music in your main iTunes library
• You will have to switch between libraries every time you want to access one or the other. After the initial setup you will probably only have to access the secondary library once or twice a month, but it’s still an annoyance.
• While iTunes will open PDF documents, it doesn’t read them. You will need a separate program to view files, which means more programs taking up computer resources.

Despite the downsides, iTunes is still free, so if you think getting your documents in order is a good idea it’s worth trying out. And don’t forget to backup your files!